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Water Contamination

OREGON -- Michigan State University researchers revealed it's very likely water used in some wells around the Oregon area could be contaminated.

The contamination centers around Envirosafe Services where toxic waste had been dumped for years. "It's scary," said Kent Wolf who lives near Envirosafe and who uses well water for his chickens. "It's not good. I don't like to hear that," he added.

MSU researchers told a group of various city leaders and concerned citizens some of the soil on Envirosafe property has contamination as high as 9,800 times the accepted levels. But they said they need more wells at certain depths to get a better idea of how bad it is and if it's spread beyond the Envirosafe site.

One of the areas researchers called a hot spot is where Toledo's raw water lines are. The city said it's been focused on water samples for 20 years. "We've done some analytical testing...sophisticated testing," said Director of Public Utilities Robert Stevenson. "We've implemented various barriers around raw water lines and our tests show no contamination," Stevenson said.

As far as wells in the Oregon area, the Lucas County Department of Health says it's getting ready to locate and test more of the water. Oregon city leaders say the next phase of this investigation is clean-up. "That's very important," said Oregon Assistant Law Director Tom Hays. "We want to make sure it's done correctly and that all the environmental standards are met," he added.

MSU researchers would like to see wells checked for contamination right at the top level of the water source to get a better idea what could be floating around down there. So far contaminants like metals including lead, Vinyl Chloride, PCB's and others have been found at dangerous levels.

MSU researchers say they'll come up with a final report about their findings and send it to the EPA within the next couple of months.

Updated at 11:45pm Wednesday by ismith@wtol.com